Re: i8k: move driver from char to hwmon

[Guenter Roeck]

On 02/22/2015 09:44 AM, Pali RohÃr wrote:
> On Sunday 22 February 2015 18:33:16 Guenter Roeck wrote:
> > On 02/22/2015 03:50 AM, Pali RohÃr wrote:
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > currently i8k driver for DELLDIAG SMM operations (charger,
> > > battery, hotkeys, temperature and fan control) supports two
> > > interfaces:
> > >
> > > 1) old /proc/i8k char device
> > > 2) new hwmon interface
> > >
> > > Driver now lives in char subsystem, but nowadays I think lot
> > > of people are interested only in hwmon interface which
> > > provides temperature & fan control. Power management and
> > > hotkeys support (which is missing in 2) but provided by 1))
> > > is already handled by ACPI or input subsystem for new
> > > laptops.
> > >
> > > Also name "i8k" is really non intuitive what it means and
> > > supports... (I was told it is abbreviation for Inspirion
> > > 8000 model which was probably first dell model supported by
> > > that DELLDIAG interface). Now driver is used on Vostro,
> > > Latitude and also Precision and XPS models. I think at
> > > least "dell" should be part of driver name and config
> > > option.
> > >
> > > So I have idea for some changes:
> > >
> > > 1) Move driver from char subsystem to hwmon
> >
> > I am ok with this one.
> >
> > > 2) Rename driver from i8k to something like delldiag or
> > > dellsmm
> >
> > Might be problematic, as it would break existing
> > configurations unless you keep the CONFIG_I8K but rename the
> > driver. Driver names are never perfect, so I would just leave
> > it as is.
> >
> > > 3) Add new CONFIG_ option to enable/disable /proc/i8k device
> > > and compile only hwmon interface support
> >
> > Makes sense. I would suggest to make hwmon suppport the
> > default and mandatory if the driver is enabled and add a new
> > CONFIG_I8K_PROCIF or similar which should be enabled by
> > default.
>
> What about CONFIG_DELLDIAG (or DELLSMM or CONFIG_SENSORS_*) for
> mandatory core & hwmon code and (keep existing) CONFIG_I8K for
> /proc/i8k?
CONFIG_SENSORS_DELL would probably be best, but that would still
break backward compatibility for existing configurations unless
you enable CONFIG_SENSORS_DELL by default which would not be
a good idea.

Guenter

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